We love our volunteers!

We love our volunteers!

Looking for a place where you will be appreciated and make a huge difference? You’ve found it.

Volunteering is a work of heart and we thank you for it! Your support – whether independently, through a work-sponsored day of caring, or at one of our special events – helps makes equine-assisted physical and occupational therapy treatments possible for Central kiddos with special needs.

Ready to join the Children’s TherAplay family of volunteers? Check out the tabs below to get started

Love horses? Born with a mop in your hand? Got a green thumb? Enjoy making small repairs?

There are all kinds of different ways to help. Here are the most common:

Sidewalking: Walk alongside the horse during a therapy session to stabilize or provide additional interaction for the patient. To ensure safety and consistency, prospective sidewalkers must complete a brief sidewalking orientation, which includes shadowing a more experienced sidewalker.

Cleaning: There’s a great deal of cleaning that accompanies operating out of a barn. Volunteers often help with disinfecting the clinic, sweeping, and vacuuming.

Administrative: Prefer to volunteer sitting down or in the office? We’d love your help with filing, stuffing envelopes, data entry, and more as projects arise.

Groundskeeping: If you have a green thumb and the desire, we'd love for you go to town watering, wee ding, mulching, and planting in our sensory garden and around the property.

Handyperson work / general repairs: We operate out of an older facility and can always use an extra hand with general repairs and our honey-do list.

Barn: Those with prior horse experience can help with filling water buckets, mucking stalls, cleaning tack, and grooming horses. For safety’s sake, approval from our Equine Program Manager is required.

Professional services: Do you have a skill you’d like to donate to Children’s TherAplay? Whether you’re a graphic designer, landscaper, electrician, carpet cleaner, or something else entirely, we’d love to hear about it. Please reach out to us!

Want to learn more?

Is there a special place in your heart for events like the Children’s TherAplay Hoe-Down or #Horsepower500?

Check out the volunteering opportunities below to find something that appeals to you, then contact our events coordinatorBreinne at (317) 872-4166 x3100 or blasley@childrenstheraplay.org to let her know you’re in!

Golf Event (June 2019 at Prairie View Golf Club in Carmel): Not a golfer but looking for an opportunity to spend the day outdoors? Come out and help with set-up, registration, taking pictures, and so forth. We would also love your help with publicity and finding sponsors and players for the event.

Sibling Camp(June 28 at Children’s TherAplay): Would you like to help make this a day for the Children's TherAplay siblings to remember? We are looking for enthusiastic volunteers to help organize the event, serve as group leaders / camp counselors, oversee activity stations, and find restaurants that are willing to donate lunch and snacks for the kiddos.

“Night of” volunteers assist with tasks such as selling martini glasses, bartending (for those who have a bartender’s permit), registration and volunteer check-in, general clean-up, parking, live auc tion spotters, and directing traffic.

Silent auction – Do you know of a tax preparer or a hairdresser? Is there a store you patronize? All of these are great people and places to ask about donating products, services, and gift certificates to our silent auction. These individuals and businesses benefit from the attention of 600 eager pairs of eyes at the event, plus their donations are tax-deductible. Download the Silent Auction form.

Sound like fun?

Wondering if volunteering at Children’s TherAplay is a good fit for you?

Here's some basic information about our volunteer program.

Age: Volunteers must be at least 16 years of age and able to work independently without close supervision. In some cases, volunteers may be required to be 21 or older.

Location: With the exception of a few special events and weekend projects, volunteering takes place on-site at Children’s TherAplay and during regular office hours: 8 a.m. – 6 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 8 a.m. – 5 p.m. on Fridays.

Equine experience: Most volunteering opportunities occur away from the horses – in the administrative office, common areas, meeting room, or outside. So no horse experience is required (unless you’d like to be a barn volunteer).

Frequency: The majority of our volunteers come for a two- to four-hour shift once a week or every other week, but there are many who do not. Once you’ve completed your volunteer orientation, you are welcome to sign up for as many or as few volunteering shifts as you like.

The kiddos: Our therapists will occasionally request assistance from volunteers but, outside of sidewalking, volunteering generally takes place away from the kiddos.

Groups: We have space for a limited number of large groups but smaller groups of 5–10 adults are a better fit. Most group volunteering opportunities at Children’s TherAplay take place in the lead-up to our special events.

Love horses? Born with a mop in your hand? Got a green thumb? Enjoy making small repairs?

There are all kinds of different ways to help. Here are the most common:

Sidewalking: Walk alongside the horse during a therapy session to stabilize or provide additional interaction for the patient. To ensure safety and consistency, prospective sidewalkers must complete a brief sidewalking orientation, which includes shadowing a more experienced sidewalker.

Cleaning: There’s a great deal of cleaning that accompanies operating out of a barn. Volunteers often help with disinfecting the clinic, sweeping, and vacuuming.

Administrative: Prefer to volunteer sitting down or in the office? We’d love your help with filing, stuffing envelopes, data entry, and more as projects arise.

Groundskeeping: If you have a green thumb and the desire, we'd love for you go to town watering, wee ding, mulching, and planting in our sensory garden and around the property.

Handyperson work / general repairs: We operate out of an older facility and can always use an extra hand with general repairs and our honey-do list.

Barn: Those with prior horse experience can help with filling water buckets, mucking stalls, cleaning tack, and grooming horses. For safety’s sake, approval from our Equine Program Manager is required.

Professional services: Do you have a skill you’d like to donate to Children’s TherAplay? Whether you’re a graphic designer, landscaper, electrician, carpet cleaner, or something else entirely, we’d love to hear about it. Please reach out to us!

Want to learn more?

Is there a special place in your heart for events like the Children’s TherAplay Hoe-Down or #Horsepower500?

Check out the volunteering opportunities below to find something that appeals to you, then contact our events coordinatorBreinne at (317) 872-4166 x3100 or blasley@childrenstheraplay.org to let her know you’re in!

Golf Event (June 2019 at Prairie View Golf Club in Carmel): Not a golfer but looking for an opportunity to spend the day outdoors? Come out and help with set-up, registration, taking pictures, and so forth. We would also love your help with publicity and finding sponsors and players for the event.

Sibling Camp(June 28 at Children’s TherAplay): Would you like to help make this a day for the Children's TherAplay siblings to remember? We are looking for enthusiastic volunteers to help organize the event, serve as group leaders / camp counselors, oversee activity stations, and find restaurants that are willing to donate lunch and snacks for the kiddos.

“Night of” volunteers assist with tasks such as selling martini glasses, bartending (for those who have a bartender’s permit), registration and volunteer check-in, general clean-up, parking, live auc tion spotters, and directing traffic.

Silent auction – Do you know of a tax preparer or a hairdresser? Is there a store you patronize? All of these are great people and places to ask about donating products, services, and gift certificates to our silent auction. These individuals and businesses benefit from the attention of 600 eager pairs of eyes at the event, plus their donations are tax-deductible. Download the Silent Auction form.

Sound like fun?

Wondering if volunteering at Children’s TherAplay is a good fit for you?

Here's some basic information about our volunteer program.

Age: Volunteers must be at least 16 years of age and able to work independently without close supervision. In some cases, volunteers may be required to be 21 or older.

Location: With the exception of a few special events and weekend projects, volunteering takes place on-site at Children’s TherAplay and during regular office hours: 8 a.m. – 6 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 8 a.m. – 5 p.m. on Fridays.

Equine experience: Most volunteering opportunities occur away from the horses – in the administrative office, common areas, meeting room, or outside. So no horse experience is required (unless you’d like to be a barn volunteer).

Frequency: The majority of our volunteers come for a two- to four-hour shift once a week or every other week, but there are many who do not. Once you’ve completed your volunteer orientation, you are welcome to sign up for as many or as few volunteering shifts as you like.

The kiddos: Our therapists will occasionally request assistance from volunteers but, outside of sidewalking, volunteering generally takes place away from the kiddos.

Groups: We have space for a limited number of large groups but smaller groups of 5–10 adults are a better fit. Most group volunteering opportunities at Children’s TherAplay take place in the lead-up to our special events.

Medical treatments come with a price tag. In our case, each physical or occupational therapy treatment costs Children’s TherAplay $183; however, the average health insurance reimbursement is only $82.

Your contributions of time and talent help cover that $101 per-treatment funding gap so we can continue to provide life-changing therapies for Central Indiana children with special needs.

Volunteering is truly a work of heart. And we are so thankful for yours!

I wish Bridget did not have heart defects, feeding issues, or physical deficits. ... [But] I am thankful that her path led us to Children’s TherAplay, where we’ve learned to find love in this unexpected journey. – Bridget’s mother, Beth

A few months ago my husband and I watched Maxwell walk into his school on his first day of preschool without his walker. Today he is walking independently almost 100% of the time. – Maxwell's mother, Jenna